Ramallah - Acting Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad
called Wednesday on factions which have announced a boycott of his
newly appointed government to join the cabinet.
'Our hands are stretched out,' the premier, who is not affiliated
with any Palestinian faction, told reporters following the first
session of his new, 20-member transitional government.
Fayyad was sworn in by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas late
Tuesday, as talks between Abbas' Fatah movement and the rival Hamas
organization on forming a unity government were making little
headway.
Fatah's own parliament bloc has announced it will boycott the new
government, as have two other Palestinian Liberation Organization
(PLO) factions - the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
(PFLP) and the Palestinian People's Party, which are the second and
fourth-largest in the PLO respectively.
Fayyad said he had left the door open for them to join, noting the
government can have up to 24 ministers.
'We tried to have a government that is composed of Palestinian
factions to strengthen the government, which is still open to change
and alteration,' he said.
Seven Fatah ministers have joined despite their movement's calls
to boycott the Fayyad government. Fatah is angry that Abbas did not
appoint one of its members as prime minister.
'The government is transitional and it will end its work once a
national unity government is formed at a time that should not exceed
the constitutional date for elections,' Fayyad said.
Palestinian factions are holding reconciliation talks in an effort
to end two years of division. The fifth round ended in Cairo Monday
without a breakthrough, but the hoped-for outcome remains an
agreement on a unity government that would prepare for
presidential and legislative elections by January 25, 2010.
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